Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of electronic mail programs, more particularly to a method and an associated device for composing electronic mail messages by merging existing messages.
Background Art
In the current state of the art of electronic mail client programs and webmail services, three direct buttons are generally available for creating new messages starting from existing ones previously selected by the user:
1. “Reply” (to sender only),
2. “Reply to all” (send a copy also to all recipients included in the “Cc:” field of the selected message),
3. “Forward” the selected message (text and any attachments) to new recipients.
In cases 1 and 2, one can only work on one message at a time, and the attachments of the original messages are not considered; in case 3, any attachments are also taken into account and, in general, one can work on one or more messages.
In case 1, the selected message is placed at the bottom of the new message, and its attachments include all those of the original message. Typically, in case 2 the selected messages are wholly attached as messages to the new one, the attachment name being the subject of the original message, if the option of forwarding the whole message has been selected in the settings of the client program. It is also possible to attach the text only, in which case it will be entered into the message body.
This range of options certainly does not cover all possible needs when creating new messages starting from existing ones. With the systems known in the art, the procedure that must be carried out in such cases is very intricate, complex and time-consuming, since it requires a number of steps such as saving attachments and copying and pasting text, message subject and recipients, which might easily lead to mistakes and oversights.
Therefore, these are solutions that cannot be applied to all possible cases, besides being rather uncomfortable and difficult to implement and not ensuring homogeneous results.
Another way of combining two or more existing electronic mail messages is to attach the messages to be combined as electronic mail elements. This functionality is made available, for example, by the “forward as attachment” command included in some electronic mail client programs, wherein it is generally applicable to one and/or more original messages, depending on the client program in use. This solution has the drawback that it only operates with compatible electronic mail programs, in that it is a client's proprietary option and may give rise to compatibility problems, so that not all recipients might be able to read a message of this kind, in which the attachment format may vary from one client to another. Moreover, just a few mail client users have familiarity with this option, since it is not universally available: for example, it is not available when the electronic mail box is used in webmail mode, i.e., through an Internet browser. Finally, the text and any attachments of messages combined in this mode are “hidden” into an attachment that needs to be opened and read in a separate window apart from the text and the attachments of the main message to which the other messages have been attached as mail elements. This leads to the inconvenience that the texts of written conversations connected together are placed in different positions, so that one will have to switch from one window to another in order to follow the conversation thread.
FIG. 1 shows a typical example of a known method of creating new messages starting from existing ones, which does not provide an easy and effective solution. Let us assume that the user U of the electronic mail box receives from the sender A a message MA with an attachment EA, through which he/she is assigned the task of carrying out a certain job for which he/she needs elements contained in EA (FIG. 1a). Let us also assume that the user U should not disclose to third parties where the request comes from and that such task involves the persons B and C. The user U then generates a new message NBC containing the attachment EA but neither the text nor the address of the sender A of the message MA, nor any other reference to A. NBC is sent to B and to C with the request to carry out the job (task) requested by A (FIG. 1b). C replies to the user U with the message NC, attaching thereto the electronic document EC that proves that the job has been carried out. NC is obtained by using the “Reply” function (REPLY(NBC) in FIG. 1c) in the message NBC, so that NC will contain in its text, in addition to the confirmation of C, also the request of U contained in NBC. At this point, U wants to send to A an acknowledgment indicating that the request has been fulfilled, by replying to the message MA with a reply message, referred to as M′A, that contains:
i) in the text, the text of MA linked to the text of NC;
ii) as attachments, the attachment EA and the attachment EC, and possibly also
iii) a combination of the subjects of MA and NC in the Subject field;
iv) a combination of the senders and/or recipients of the messages MA and NC in the Recipients field.
With the electronic mail systems currently available, the creation of a new message of this kind is a very complex task for the user. The user will have to create a new message, manually copy the contents of the texts of both messages MA and NC into the text of the new message M′A, save both attachments somewhere and add them manually to the Attachments field of M′A. In addition, if one wants the header fields (“From:”, “To:”, etc.) to appear in the text of the messages, it will be necessary to use the “Reply” command (or function) in all messages, one at a time, and to copy their full header text into the message thus created, in the desired order.
As an alternative, if this function is available in the mail client program in use, U may forward the message NC as an attachment, by using the “Forward as attachment” command, to a new message, and attach the other attachment EA “manually” after having saved it locally into some folder of the available mass memories, e.g., on the computer desktop. At the end of the creation procedure, the new message M′A can finally be sent to A.
Another typical case where the current systems for message composition are wholly unsatisfactory is the following. In an e-mail message, the boss of the clerk U asks to summarize the situation about n topics within his competence which were discussed during the last meeting of the board of directors, the minutes thereof having been attached to the message; a copy is also sent to other members of the board. U wants to reply by attaching n final conversation messages concerning each one of the various topics, including the respective attachments, if any, while sending copies (“Cc:”) of the same message to the other members of the board already included in the received message. In this case as well, composing such a message would imply a long and intricate series of copy and paste, selection, attachment saving, etc. steps.
Therefore, the use of the methods available in electronic mail client programs and webmail services known in the art for composing new messages implies problems that may confuse an unskilled user, who will need much practice to be able to carry out such tasks, while also being time-consuming and causing loss of concentration even for a skilled user. In fact, according to the known procedures for merging two messages, the user is compelled to carry out non-homogeneous and complex operations, such as pressing a command button to create a new message, opening another message and saving its attachment, returning to the created message and attach thereto the previously saved attachment. This procedure is not easy to carry out, and there is a high risk of mistakes or inaccuracy. Therefore, there is a problem in terms of ineffective and time-consuming user interfacing procedures, leading to further operational efficiency problems.
Another ensuing technical problem is the considerable waste of time and computer resources, in terms of number of program or routine instructions that need to be carried out.
Moreover, the result thus obtained is not always optimal: if, for example, one uses the “Forward as attachment” function, the text of the merged messages will not be positioned in the same field, since the texts of the original messages will be incorporated partly into the attachment and partly into the text of the created message.